We have no revenue from the U Card business, only costs.
Article by: Lesley, MetaEra
On June 17, the crypto startup Infini announced the shutdown of all card services. The news sparked considerable attention within the industry and regret from loyal users.
"What about the renewal fees for ChatGPT and Twitter blue check?"
"Is it possible for this business to restart in the future?"
……
The more satisfied the users are, the more the company loses—this is the cruel paradox faced by U Card startups.
Infini's shutdown of the U Card business is not an isolated incident. In the past two years, at least two well-known U Card service providers have quietly exited the market, first OneKey and now Infini—both had tried to bridge the gap between stablecoin payments and real-world consumption but ultimately ceased operations due to high compliance costs and unviable business models.
A rational strategic withdrawal
One hour after Infini officially announced the shutdown of the U Card business, co-founder Christine further explained the reasons for this decision through the X platform. She pointed out that the main reasons for shutting down the U Card business were high compliance costs, thin profits, and significant operational pressure. The company will now shift its focus to wealth management and asset management. Christine also emphasized that the company will fully embrace decentralization and explore decentralized payment solutions, firmly rejecting the path of centralization.
In an interview with MetaEra, Infini co-founder Christine shared the emotional journey behind this decision.
"I must have hesitated internally." Christine candidly told the reporter. This team, which has grown from a small company, has already accumulated a considerable user base in the Chinese-speaking region. Many community users on Twitter expressed their hope that Infini would stay, which deeply moved the team—"What everyone wants is a useful U Card, not for us to refund and shut down the card business."
However, the decision was not made hastily. Christine revealed that the team had in-depth discussions early on about whether to continue the card business, "This was a process of repeated contemplation." The company has carefully considered its strategic adjustments to ensure that every step aligns with the direction of long-term development.
In the official announcement of the shutdown, Infini detailed its compensation plan for users: automatic refund of card fees, ensuring the safety of funds in transit, and committing to complete all refunds within 21 working days. This attitude of 'doing well from beginning to end' reflects the team's sense of responsibility and mirrors the rare adherence to business ethics in this industry.
Two major core resistances: uncontrolled costs and failed models.
In the interview, Christine deeply analyzed the two major reasons for the shutdown of the U Card business, each addressing the core pain points of the U Card industry.
Heavy cost structure
When asked by reporters which link in the card issuance industry chain captures most of the profits, Christine's answer was unexpected: 'Actually, we shouldn't ask about profits; we should first discuss costs. We have no profits from the U Card business, only costs.' This statement reveals the fundamental problem of the U Card industry.
Christine elaborately analyzed the cost chain of the card issuance business through Infini's actual case.
KYT and KYC costs
KYT (Know Your Transaction) and KYC (Know Your Customer) are crucial in the cryptocurrency payment industry.
KYT helps identify and monitor transaction risks to prevent money laundering and fraud, thereby safeguarding funds and ensuring compliance and financial integrity. To prevent illegal funds from flowing in, Infini collaborates with Cobo, requiring every deposit transaction to go through KYT.
KYC is an effective means to prevent identity theft, money laundering, and other illegal financial activities, ensuring the transparency and safety of the financial system. Infini also introduced Sumsub's services in the KYC process.
This also means that every time KYT and KYC are conducted, regardless of the outcome, Infini must pay the corresponding fees.
Card group and bank fees
The upstream card group costs for card issuance services cannot be overlooked. "Card group" typically refers to organizations or networks that provide card payment solutions, such as Visa, Mastercard, etc., which manage the issuance of bank cards, payments, transaction settlements, and other processes. The APIs provided by the card group require a fixed monthly fee, and other costs like exchange rate conversion fees and recharge handling fees also impact business costs.
'We chose a user-friendly route, with many costs borne by ourselves. For example, each card has a fixed fee of $0.1 per month, which we do not charge users separately.' Nevertheless, costs remain high, and profits are nearly zero. Christine revealed, 'Generally, currency conversion fees are around 1% to 1.5%, which are not charged by us but by upstream banks and card groups. However, users feel unhappy, thinking they are being shortchanged on the exchange rate.'
Operational costs
Infini's U Card business also faces enormous operational pressure. Christine noted, "The complexity of operating the U Card is comparable to that of a cryptocurrency exchange." The operation of the U Card requires ensuring the security of each transaction and providing real-time customer support, but it has not brought in profits comparable to those of exchanges. To maintain a good user experience and efficient customer service, the Infini team bears substantial operational costs.
Compliance costs
When asked which part of the U Card costs burns the most money, Christine did not hesitate to respond: 'If you really want to ask me which part costs the most, it must be the payment licenses.' She further explained, 'Payment businesses need to obtain the corresponding payment licenses in different regions, such as the MSO (Money Service Operator) in Hong Kong and the EMI (Electronic Money Institution) in Europe. These license applications take a long time and are costly.' She added, 'Especially the KYC and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) processes, which require fees for each user verification.' The high costs of payment licenses and compliance services make it difficult for startups to move forward in this industry.
Misaligned crypto vision and reality
Compared to the idealized 'bridge from the crypto world to real payments,' the reality of the U Card is revealing structural limitations. For Infini, this is not a path that can be walked long-term.
"If we want to make a profit from the U Card, we can only raise the fees." Christine admitted that the U Card lacks a more effective profit model, and raising fees is not a good solution. Increasing fees contradicts the team's original intention of being user-friendly and low-cost, and could also provoke user dissatisfaction. In fact, in many regions, users can relatively easily convert stablecoins like USDT into fiat currency through exchange channels, and the U Card has not provided decisive value-added benefits.
The more realistic issue is that the U Card user experience is far inferior to Web 2.0 products. 'We often receive user complaints that using the card in places like Hong Kong and Singapore incurs currency conversion fees.' She explained that these fees are not set by Infini but are charged by upstream card groups. However, from the user's perspective, these costs ultimately fall on them, 'Users think it is us charging them and feel we are making a lot of money, but in fact, we haven't taken a penny.' While bearing the complex compliance and customer service burdens, Infini has not received commensurate returns or user understanding, leading Christine to believe that this model is not a sustainable long-term development path.
Currently, leading platforms like Coinbase and Bybit are still actively promoting U Card services. Just this year, Coinbase announced that it will launch the Coinbase One Card in the fall of 2025, allowing users to earn up to 4% of their Bitcoin back on each purchase.
However, the utility of these U Cards backed by cryptocurrency exchanges may differ from that of Infini. Christine analyzes that these platforms are more likely to see U Cards as 'fund retention tools' rather than primary sources of revenue. For example, Bybit users can enjoy fee waivers after depositing large amounts of funds. By providing benefits and fee waivers to users, U Cards can effectively help exchanges enhance fund retention and long-term user loyalty. In this context, U Cards are more like a part of the platform ecosystem, used to enhance user retention and fund accumulation rather than being direct profit tools. She explained that these platforms inherently have well-established customer service, KYC, and compliance systems, making their operational structure naturally suitable for conducting U Card business.
For Infini, without a large trading business to back it up, the U Card has become a high-burden, low-return energy consumer. The lack of a long-term profit logic makes the U Card path difficult to sustain.
The future of cryptocurrency payments: The U Card is unlikely to be the endpoint for cryptocurrency payments.
Infini has always adhered to the Crypto Native concept, aiming to provide users with savings, wealth management, payment, and other services. Christine believes that the current cryptocurrency payment field has not evolved along the trend of cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin was initially envisioned as a revolutionary payment tool. Stablecoins, in particular, have the advantages of speed, low cost, and censorship resistance. The U Card allows users to convert stablecoins (such as USDT and USDC) into fiat currency, deposit it into bank accounts, and then spend through traditional Visa or Mastercard networks. This method effectively bypasses these advantages, converting stablecoins back into fiat currency and returning to traditional payment networks, which is contrary to the original intention of cryptocurrency payments. Christine believes that the practice of turning stablecoins into fiat currency through the U Card not only fails to realize the potential of cryptocurrency payments but is also a step backward for the industry.
Christine emphasized: 'The ultimate goal of cryptocurrency payments is to allow every user to directly use stablecoins for payments, rather than relying on fiat payment channels. What we want is 'Pay with crypto, pay with stablecoins,' rather than reverting to traditional fiat payment systems.' She further added that she believes an ordinary user can directly use USDT and USDC for payments and purchases without going through traditional Visa and Mastercard, which would be a 'iPhone' moment for cryptocurrency payments.
In fact, stablecoin payments have undeniable potential. According to on-chain data, as of May 31, the global stablecoin market value has surpassed $250 billion, indicating a huge demand for stablecoins as payment tools. Christine believes that the 'cryptocurrency payment' market still has significant room for growth.
From trial and error to reconstruction: Infini's experience accumulation and future choices
Reflecting on the past year, Christine jokingly said, 'Looking back at these things, I might not have started the U Card at all.' She recalled the experience of consulting OneKey's founder Yishi for advice last year. Yishi was very sincere in explaining the various difficulties and pressures of the U Card. At that time, OneKey had just shut down its U Card business due to regulatory pressures.
However, Christine initially underestimated the complexity of compliance. 'I originally thought that as long as we didn't touch the 'grey market,' everything would be fine,' she said with a smile, 'but the reality is far from that.' After a year of practice, she experienced firsthand that payment-related businesses face compliance pressures far exceeding those of traditional pure cryptocurrency projects, a significant challenge that cannot be avoided in cryptocurrency payment entrepreneurship.
Although the entrepreneurial journey is full of challenges, the experiences of the past year have also provided her with valuable insights.
"She firmly believes: 'If you want to succeed in entrepreneurship, timing, location, and people are all essential, and 'people' is the most important. A good team is crucial; if the team has enough vitality and combat power, many new businesses can succeed.' Over the past year, Christine and her team have continuously overcome technical challenges while also forming a more efficient collaborative model in management.
In addition to the team, Christine particularly emphasized the importance of reputation. In entrepreneurship within the cryptocurrency industry, both personal character and brand reputation are very important. 'In this industry, reputation is the most core asset. If the reputation is bad, future business will be very difficult to sustain.' She gave an example that although Infini encountered a theft incident in February this year, the team still decided to fully compensate users for their losses with its own funds, ensuring that no user suffered losses. Such measures not only earned the trust of users but also laid the foundation for Infini's long-term development.
Looking to the future, Infini has clearly focused its development on two directions: first, to support daily operations with robust wealth management products, establishing a sustainable revenue base; second, to continuously explore a truly decentralized cryptocurrency payment path, enhancing its feasibility in real-world applications.
First, Infini will continue to strengthen its wealth management product line, which is indeed an important source of revenue for the company. 'Because many products that can generate income are on-chain, we will later open some CeFi-type products, which can provide stronger risk resistance.' She stated, 'The market is highly volatile, and if a bear market arrives, lending and wealth management returns often decrease, so we need to provide users with more diversified and safer wealth management products to help them maintain returns in different market environments.'
To meet the diverse needs of users, Infini also plans to segment its wealth management products. For instance, she mentioned some arbitrage products or medium-to-high-frequency quantitative products suitable for users willing to accept certain lock-up periods; while for users needing to access funds at any time, they can still choose more flexible lending products. She emphasized that future wealth management products will be categorized according to risk levels to better match users' needs for liquidity and returns.
On the other hand, Christine remains confident about the future of cryptocurrency payments, hoping to continue exploring a truly decentralized payment path, especially in the area of stablecoin payments. She clearly stated that traditional card payment solutions are a temporary transitional solution, and the real solution should be decentralized stablecoin payments. Stablecoin payments can achieve instant settlements and extremely low costs, which is the advantage of decentralized payments. 'We have spent so much time and operational costs on a temporary transitional solution; why not think about a longer-term solution?' She revealed that Infini will increase its research and development efforts for decentralized payment solutions, aiming to enable users to directly use stablecoins for payments, breaking away from traditional fiat payment channels. 'We already have some ideas and concepts for products in this area, but we also need time for research and testing.'
Summary: Finding a long-termism foothold in reality
Regarding the future, Christine stated that Infini will always move forward with the posture of a long-term entrepreneur, firmly optimistic about the development prospects of cryptocurrency payments. When discussing the future, she expressed her hope to see the company maintain steady revenue and achieve substantive progress in the field of cryptocurrency payments.
From facing compliance challenges to exploring the grand vision of decentralized cryptocurrency payments, Infini is accumulating valuable experience and steadily advancing technological innovation and business expansion. As the team continues to grow, Infini is tirelessly striving to create more efficient and convenient payment solutions. Despite the uncertainties of the future, the direction Infini insists on and the accumulated experience are gradually constructing a more sustainable innovation path, which may trigger profound and lasting impacts in the cryptocurrency payment industry.
